Rotation of Senators

The Senate and the House of Representatives were dissolved in accordance with section 57 of the Constitution on 9 May 2016, and a double dissolution election was held on 2 July 2016.

On 31 August 2016, the Senate agreed: That, pursuant to section 13 of the Constitution, the senators chosen for each state be divided into two classes, as follows:

Senators listed at positions 7 to 12 on the certificate of election of senators for each state shall be allocated to the first class and receive 3 year terms.

Senators listed at positions 1 to 6 on the certificate of election of senators for each state shall be allocated to the second class and receive 6 year terms.

In 2017 and 2018, various senators were declared ineligible under section 44 of the Constitution by the High Court sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns. In each case, the Court ordered that the seats be filled by special recounts of the ballots, following which new senators were declared by the High Court to be elected. On 13 February 2018 the Senate agreed: That—

as soon as practicable after the High Court orders a special count of the ballots from the 2016 election for any state and makes an order declaring that a person identified by that count is duly elected as a senator for that state, there be laid on the table a copy of the statement of results report for that count; and

if such a report is tabled in relation to any state, then the order of the Senate of 31 August 2016, made pursuant to section 13 of the Constitution, have effect in relation to senators from that state as if a reference to the certificate of election were a reference to the most recent statement of results report.

The statements of results for the Senate special counts were provided by the Australian Electoral Commission out of sitting on 21 February 2017.

For convenience, a summary of the results can be found on the
AEC website.